Repotting guide

When & how to repot All Gold Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis 'All Gold')

Also called All Gold Lemon Balm, Golden Lemon Balm.

More about all gold lemon balm

About All Gold Lemon Balm

Melissa officinalis 'All Gold' · also called All Gold Lemon Balm, Golden Lemon Balm · herb

All Gold Lemon Balm is a cultivar of lemon balm with uniformly bright golden-yellow foliage — more intensely gold than 'Aurea'. It retains the signature lemon fragrance and flavour and is prized as both a culinary herb and a garden foliage accent. Compact and hardy, it suits containers, herb borders, and pollinator plantings.

Mature size: 30–50 cm tall (12–20 in), 40–55 cm wide

Watch for — Colour bleaching in full sun: Prolonged direct sun causes the gold foliage to bleach pale cream or develop brown scorch patches. Move to a spot with afternoon shade, or provide a shade cloth during peak summer.

How to tell all gold lemon balm needs repotting

Repotting on a calendar is less reliable than reading the plant. For all gold lemon balm, watch for these signs:

Roots circling the bottom of the module or pot, or poking out of the drainage holes.
The seedling dries out within a day and growth has visibly stalled.
Roots are white and matted in a tight spiral when you tip the plant out.
It has outgrown its current container for the stage of the season — pot all gold lemon balm on before it becomes hard root-bound.

For the underlying biology of a pot-bound root system and why it stalls a plant, see our guide to spotting and fixing a root-bound plant.

How often to repot all gold lemon balm

Pot on seedlings as they grow; not a perennial repot. All Gold Lemon Balmis grown for one season, so the question is really “how often to pot on” — keep moving it up before the roots circle. Clump-forming, herbaceous perennial.

What size pot to step all gold lemon balm up to

Pot all gold lemon balm on gradually — a seedling jumped straight into a huge pot sits in cold, wet, airless soil and stalls. Step up one or two sizes at a time as the roots fill each container, finishing in a large final pot or the ground. The aim is roots that never circle and never check.

Not sure of the exact diameter? Our pot size calculator takes the current pot and root spread and tells you the right next size — it deliberately recommends a single step up, never a big jump.

The best time of year to repot all gold lemon balm

Pot all gold lemon balm on through the active growing season, whenever roots fill the current container — there is no single date, just "before it becomes root-bound". Avoid potting on during a cold snap.

Step-by-step: repotting all gold lemon balm

Pot on before it is root-bound. Check all gold lemon balm regularly; move it up as soon as roots reach the edge of the cell or pot, not after they have circled.
Step up one or two sizes. Choose the next container up — not a giant one. Cold, wet, unused soil around a small root system stalls seedlings.
Knock it out gently. Support the stem, tip the pot, and ease the rootball out without breaking it. A little teasing of circled roots at the base is fine.
Pot into rich mix. Set it into fresh moderately fertile, well-draining loam at the same depth (tomatoes are the exception — they can go deeper to root along the stem).
Water in and grow on. Water well, keep it in good light, and resume feeding once it is established and growing again.

Aftercare

Water all gold lemon balm in well and keep it in bright light; a freshly potted-on seedling can wilt for a day while roots settle, so do not overcompensate by drowning it. Do not fertilise for about 1 week — fresh mix already carries nutrients and feeding freshly disturbed roots scorches them.

The right soil mix for all gold lemon balm

All Gold Lemon Balm wants moderately fertile, well-draining loam. Prefers a soil pH of 6.0–7.5. Grows well in average garden soil; avoid very rich mixes that encourage vigorous all-green regrowth at the expense of the gold colouring. Good drainage is critical. Always use fresh mix when you repot — reusing old, broken-down soil reintroduces the compaction and poor drainage you are repotting to fix.

Repotting all gold lemon balm — frequently asked questions

How often should you repot all gold lemon balm?

Pot on seedlings as they grow; not a perennial repot for all gold lemon balm. All Gold Lemon Balm is a seasonal crop, so you pot it on as a growing plant rather than repotting a perennial. Step seedlings up gradually into moderately fertile, well-draining loam so the roots never circle the cell, ending in a large final container. A root-bound transplant stalls and never fully recovers.

What size pot does all gold lemon balm need?

When is the best time of year to repot all gold lemon balm?

Can you put all gold lemon balm straight into a much bigger pot?

No. Even a fast-growing all gold lemon balm should only go up one pot size at a time. A vastly oversized pot holds a reservoir of wet soil the roots cannot reach, which stays cold and soggy and rots the roots — the opposite of what you wanted.

Should you fertilise all gold lemon balm after repotting?

Not immediately. Wait about 1 week after repotting all gold lemon balm. Fresh mix already contains nutrients, and feeding freshly cut or disturbed roots burns them. Resume your normal feeding routine once you see new growth.